William Shakespeare is considered as one of the best play writers in history. One of his most well known plays is Macbeth where a Scottish general named Macbeth has a strong desire to be king which leads him to betray and murder his king, Duncan. He also kills the nobles who have been loyal to him in order to maintain his title as king. Throughout this play, Shakespeare uses the motif of ambition, guilt, and fate to characterize the characters, show the different themes present within the play, and how the motifs are still relevant today. One of the most important motifs is ambition. The motif ambition shows the characterization of greed, and the theme conveyed is the want for power takes full control of the mind and that is the push force …show more content…
The motif guilt shows characterization of remorse, and the theme conveyed is guilt stays within a person forever and not confessing leads to misery. After Macbeth murders Duncan, he begins to go insane and claim that he can no longer sleep. “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep’ . . . ‘Macbeth shall sleep no more’” (2.2.33-41). The motif of guilt is present because Macbeth is haunted by his murdering Duncan. He feels remorseful for committing such a crime and he tells himself that he will not be able to sleep anymore because of his guilt. This conveys the theme because with Macbeth not confessing to his crime, the guilt stays and leads to his downfall. When Macbeth hosts a dinner party at his castle, he sees Banquo’s ghost and he starts to talk to it. “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee. / Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold; / Thou hast no speculation in those eyes / Which thou dost glare with” (3.4.93-96). Macbeth hallucinates and claims that he sees Banquo’s ghost. This demonstrates his guilt of ordering the murder of Banquo. This displays the theme because Macbeth has not confessed to the crime of murdering Banquo, the terror and remorse is bottled up inside of him and is slowly creeping out to haunt him. The presence of the ghost is driving Macbeth insane and he is trying to reassure himself that Banquo’s ghost cannot not doing anything to harm him since it …show more content…
Fate shows the characterization of disillusionment, and conveys the theme do not let fate decide a person’s future, take action and alter it to make it come true. After Macbeth comes back from fighting, witches appear and tell him his prophecy. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter” (1.3.51-53). After hearing the witches’ prophecy, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth only focus on the last part of it which was Macbeth becoming king. This relates to the theme because Macbeth decides to take action and kill Duncan in order to make sure he is king. This also shows his disillusionment as he is doing anything for his fate to be proven true. Macbeth feels threatened by Fleance after the witches told Banquo his prophecy, which was that he will have a line of kings. “Fleance, his son, that keeps him company, / Whose absence is no less material to me / Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate / Of that dark hour” (3.2.134-138). Macbeth wants to kill Fleance as he is a threat to Macbeth’s title. This relates to the theme because Macbeth decides to take action in order for the prophecy to be proven wrong, so he sends the murders out to kill Banquo and Fleance. Macbeth’s disillusionment is present as he gets caught up in the prophecy and does anything just to alter it. His disillusionment is also present at the end of the play
The rise in paranoia and insomnia leads to further problems. Macbeth feels the irrational need to cover up his tracks, and the only witness he cold suspect is Banquo. His impression of Banquo is that he has the qualities of a king, which make Macbeth anxious and jealous, “Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature/ Reigns that which would be fear’d" (3.1.53-55). In fear of his own sovereignty, Macbeth quickly becomes apprehensive of Banquo’s prophecy of him being the father to forthcoming kings, “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” (1.3.70). Furthermore, it convinces him into believing that Banquo is a threatening enemy, and he can only be safe if Banquo is killed.
Throughout his play Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes multiple motifs, or recurring subjects, themes, or ideas, that enrich his play and further portray his ideas. He uses the motif of babies, children, and the unborn to compare character actions to children in order to emphasize their weaknesses. This motif is also used to portray the strong bond between parents and children and the lengths people go to uphold this bond. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth, Macbeth is true to King Duncan, however, hearing a prophecy from the witches that he will become king, he kills Duncan to gain the throne. Eventually Macbeth is filled with feeling of paranoia, guilt, and fear which lead to further murders.
The ghost of Banquo’s soliloquy to himself after he gains knowledge of who has sent for him to be killed and what it truly means to be evil and how fair is foul and foul is fair. What knowledge has Banquo gained during his short time as a ghost? Why has this happened? How could my dear and trusted ally, Macbeth, commit such an atrocious act? To think that after all we’ve been through together, the once valiant and heroic Macbeth was enthralled by what three old hags had supposedly prophesized.
The imagery Shakespeare uses to display Banquo 's ghost appearing to Macbeth illuminates Macbeth’s out of touch with reality. When Macbeth frantically says “Prithee, see there! Behold! Look! Lo!
(Act2:1:37-39). The imagery used of a brain physically over-heating accentuates the idea that Macbeth is beginning to lose his sanity as his brain can no longer function accordingly due to all the incalescence. Not only does the thought of killing Duncan cause Macbeth to hallucinate but also after having ordered the murder of Banquo, his guilt stricken conscience causes him to see Banquo 's ghost. No one else at the banquet can see the ghost which emphasizes that Macbeth is losing his sanity. Macbeth asks "Which of you have done this" (Act3:4:53) after seeing Banquo 's ghost because he believes one of the guests to be playing a prank on him as he is not aware that his own mind is hallucinating due to all the remorse.
Macbeth is seeing a ghost of Banquo’s that could just be his imagination trying to tell him that he did something wrong and that he should confess. If the ghost is Macbeth’s conscience then, he is trying to convince himself that he is in fact innocent. He did not do anything wrong on a technically. 2)
In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses many motifs and symbols to help develop the theme. The most effective symbols and motifs that Shakespeare uses are the birds, blood, and sleep. In Macbeth, birds are mentioned many times. "The raven himself is hoarse /
By seeing Banquo as a ghost, Macbeth believes that his acts have come to haunt him for revenge. The guests at the dinner party are confused by
Macbeth is crowned as the King of Scotland and he gives a feast to celebrate his the occasion. Macbeth thought that Banquo would doubt him for the murder of King Duncan since he knew of the prophecy of the witches, so he had him murdered that very night while he was coming to attend the feast. Macbeth had planned to get his son Fleance, murdered as well by the escapes. During the feast Macbeth hallucinates and sees the ghost of Banquo seated in the chair meant for himself. Lady Macbeth handles the situation by her tact but the doubts of the nobles are aroused irrespectively.
Shakespeare’s renowned tragic play ‘Macbeth’ was written in the 1500s to entertain and please King James I of England. The story follows a once noble and valiant knight turned tyrannous called Macbeth in his journey as he navigates his way through the dangerous waters of ambition and greed that ultimately result in his death. Macbeth at the start of the play is a self-proclaimed ‘servant of the king’ but when he hears three witches’ prophecy that he is going to be king, his loyalties seem to flip. In his greed, he ends up murdering the current King of Scotland – King Duncan.
Macbeth needs to follow through with this plan because Fleance and Banquo could get in the way of Macbeth becoming King. The three witches had also foretold Banquo’s descendants to become king. Macbeth sends men to follow through with this plan. They succeed to kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes. After being responsible for the deaths of two people, Duncan and Banquo, Macbeth is in a state where he feels the need to keep murdering people that could possibly get in his way of becoming king.
Furthermore, the murder of Banquo led Macbeth to destruction. Later in the play, Macbeth was troubled by the Banquo’s ghost. Macbeth acts out of desperation to get rid of Banquo’s ghost (III, iv, 82-7). Here, it shows Macbeth’s destruction of mind, which is fuelled by his fear and guilt. Eventually, Macbeth’s
In Act 3 of Macbeth the author sets the scene of Macbeth’s rise to king. It shows that the witches prophecy has come true and shows Macbeth’s need to stop the fulfillment of the rest of their predictions. Macbeth is distraught that Banquo’s sons’ will later reign as kings. This act of the story depicts the hired murder of Banquo and the attempted murder of his son Fleance. These actions set in motion Macbeth’s visions of ghosts.
I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on 't again I dare not.” (Act II, sc ii, Lines 48-50). Macbeth is getting extremely paranoid and feels bad killing Duncan. Macbeths ambitions caused him to murder Duncan, but he also had Banquo murdered, and wanted to murder Banquo 's son, Fleance. Macbeth wants Banquo killed because he saw him as a threat; however, Banquo had been Macbeth 's friend and thought he could trust him. "
Returning to his guests, Macbeth goes to sit at the chair placed for the king, but finds Banquo’s ghost sitting in his chair instead. He shows his paranoia and frustration in fits of anger and despair. Lady Macbeth promptly asks the Guests to depart and, once alone, tries one last time to soothe her husband. But Macbeth's paranoid mind